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♥♥♥ TAR14: Mel & Michael White - Father & Son

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Very true. Don't hate me because I'm beautiful. :lol:

puddin:
Your crazy Ken  :lol:



Exclusive: Mel and Mike White talk about their time on 'The Amazing Race'

   
By John Bracchitta, 03/30/2009

In a season of The Amazing Race where bad cab drivers seem to be the reason behind almost every elimination so far, at least Mike and Mel White's story gets some points for originality.

 
After recovering from an initial mistake that led Mike, a 28-year-old writer, producer and actor from Santa Monica, CA, and his father Mel, a 68-year-old writer/clergyman from Lynchberg, VA, way off course because of bad directions, the father and son team were ultimately finished off in Thailand by their cabbie's learning of the locations of each of the Race leg's remaining clues, and then mistakenly traveling to them out of order during Sunday night's broadcast of The Amazing Race on CBS.

On Monday, Mike and Mel spoke to Reality TV World about how their unique cab situation unfolded, why they were the only team to misread their clue and not travel directly to the Phuket Zoo, and what Luke Adams told Mike on the plane ride to Thailand that still has him confused to this day.
   

Reality TV World:  You guys had two things that seemed to cost you time in that leg last night.  The first was having a hard time finding a cab when you first got to Phuket and the second was having a hard time finding someone that knew the monkey statue was at the zoo.  Which one do you think was more responsible for your elimination?  Which one did you lose more time on?

Mike: Well it was definitely the moment where, well, I mean we were behind and it took us a while to get that cab, but we actually caught up with all the teams at the Tang beach. Our cab driver at that moment said he knew where the gorilla was, like he was on the phone or something and he was like "I know where it is!"

And we saw the teams and we saw them going this other way, but they seemed confused and they were so frantic and psychotic that it was like... I don't know. In a moment's decision we were like "Well this guy lives here, he probably knows what he's talking about" and it just seemed getting out and running around with those crazy people didn't seem like it was going to be that [productive] (Laughs.)

Mel: We also talked to people in the Bangkok airport to find out where this was. Everyone we talked to said it was at the Tang beach, so that reinforced our bad information.

Reality TV World:  Just going back to the airport, what led to you both having so much trouble finding a cab in Phuket? Were they just not around?

Mike: Well we were always the last to get a cab because everyone would race off the plane and my dad had an injury, but usually we were able to make up time. And actually we did make up the time, but this time there were literally just five cabs out in front of this airport.

It was a smaller airport and everyone just got their cab. And one of the rules is that you can't take any other kind of car service than a cab, so there were all these people who were willing to drive us, and there were all these limo drivers and whatever but we had to wait for a cab. So we lost time there for sure.

And then when we got the cab driver he was just kind of completely out of it.

Reality TV World:  You kind of addressed this a minute ago, but on the show last night there was a point when you were at the beach area when someone said the statue was at the zoo, but for whatever reason you didn't listen to him. Was that because of all the people who were telling you otherwise?

Mike: At first there was speculation that the gorilla was at the zoo just when we saw the picture, it was like "Oh, this  is the zoo," but for some reason it was one of those "It's so obvious it can't be that" kind of situations.

Like my dad said, when we ran around at the airport they all said it's at the Tang beach and it's not at the zoo. And so then when they were saying it was at the zoo you feel like you're showing a picture and they're like "Oh, it must be at the zoo." It's not like they said "Oh yeah, I know that's at the zoo" until that one guy they showed who was like "No, that's definitely at the zoo." Then we just kinda said "Okay, we gotta go to the zoo."

Reality TV World:  How long did it take before you found that guy?

Mike: Not as long as it showed on the [episode]. It made it seem like they were halfway through that next challenge while we were still going "I don't know, what do we do?" That was just a weird editing thing I think.

I mean we were lost. But we lost more time with the cab driver way after that because after we completed that stuff with the tiger and the elephant, [the cabbie] kept driving us to the places that were on [The Amazing Race], but like not in order of when we were supposed to go. He would take us to the boats and then he would take us to the finish line because he was calling his dispatch and finding out where other cabs were going. So he would take us to places that we were ultimately supposed to go to but not in the order we were supposed to go there, so it was just confusing.

We kept showing up at different parts along the race and we were like "We need to go here eventually but we don't need to go here now!" (Laughs).

Mel: We pulled up to the rickshaw finish line and there was one rickshaw there for [Mark and Michael Munoz] and we almost took it and started down the race track and Michael said "This is the end of it, not the beginning!"

Reality TV World:  Oh okay. So that's what you think ended up costing you more than anything?

Mel: Oh yeah definitely.

Mike: The fact that we were just a couple of minutes behind [Jennifer and LaKisha Hoffman], like, if he had just not gotten lost once along the race on the route I think we could've snuck in there, but it wasn't meant to be.

Reality TV World:  And actually with the "100 barrels" Detour, how long did that take you? Did you gain ground on Jen and Kisha?

Mel: Well yeah. To see that they finished not that far in front of us was kind of hopeful but it didn't work. We gained ground, we worked fast on that boat.

Reality TV World:  About how far behind Jen and Kisha did you arrive at the Pit Stop?

Mike: They said like five minutes. I mean Mark and Mike obviously got there ahead of everyone else because they and that long penalty and they still survived it.

But besides that penalty I think all of the teams ended up very close in the same amount of time because usually they whisk all of the teams away for when you arrive at the mat because they don't want you to see who's arrived and where you are in the placement order. But we got there so close to everyone else that all the teams were there. So we knew we were last, but we must've gotten in there close.

Mel: It hadn't been since [Margie Adams] fainted because...

Mike: She was in the ambulance. The ambulance was still there.

Reality TV World:  Kind of going off of Margie and [ her son Luke], you both seemed to be one of the first teams to notice that they were a force to be reckoned with and would not really be hindered by Luke being deaf. Do you think some of the other teams had initially written them off an not seen them as one of the bigger threats in the game?

Mike: Well they won the first leg, so it was clear that they were competitive. I don't think we realized how willing they were to do anything to win until a few legs into the race.

Mel: Yeah, the deaf boy said to Mike "That gorilla is signing with his two hands."

Mike: Yeah, that's something that never showed up on the race, which I wish had. I mean he told me while were flying to Phuket that the gorilla was actually signing something, and that the placement of his hands could show the location... like the location was in sign language of what the gorilla was doing with his hands.

I don't know why he told me this because it was totally not true! I ended up staying up the entire night on the train trying to get it out of him and going around to different people on the plane and people who knew sign language. It was the weirdest thing. And then at the end of it when we lost I was like "Why did he do that? That's so weird..."

Reality TV World:  Who did you consider to be the biggest threat in the game while you were there?
Mel: Luck plays such an important part, and by the time we met everybody they all had gifts and skills and energy, so I didn't feel like anybody had an advantage. Did you Mike?

Mike: Um, well I felt like Luke and Margie were a strong team, and [Tammy and Victor Jih] were. The teams that continued to place in the front were obviously Tammy and Victor and Margie and Luke, and I felt that on any given day we could've beat -- and we won and came in second a couple of times. I felt like we were strong competitors and could beat any of the teams on any given day.

But at the same time those were the teams who just kept going on. And they were also a source of information. It seemed like Tammy and Victor and Margie and Luke were always people who had more information than other teams, and a lot of times that information was wrong (Laughs)

A lot of times the information was [like with] the gorilla. you realize maybe I shouldn't have [listened].

It's funny watching the show now because we thought at the time that Margie and Luke were working with us. Only in retrospect do we realize they were kind of working against us.

Reality TV World:  It seemed like, even during last night's leg when things were looking down for you guys, that you both were having fun out there and trying to not get too stressed. Was that a strategy of both of yours going [into the Race]?

Mel: Well Michael told me right from the start "Don't get aggro dad." (Laughs) And I think that his reminding me along the way that this is only for the fun of it really helped, and so we were convinced that's why we're there. I didn't see it as a strategy. I just thought it was a goal. If it was a strategy it lost.

Reality TV World:  Mike you took a little jab at [Jaime Edmondson], calling her a "mean girl." Could you talk a little about where you got that impression of her from?

Mike: (Laughs) Other than having my eyes and ears open?

She was just a stress case from the first minute, and it was stressful just to be around her. It just felt like we were all sort of irritating extras and she was the star of the show and we were kind of getting in the way of her fulfilling her destiny of winning [The Amazing Race]. (Laughs)

But that said, watching the show as an audience member I definitely enjoy that she's on the race because it makes it [fun]. I mean, if everyone has a casual, laid back attitude it's kind of a snore. You need [someone] who has that fire in the belly like Jaime does, and kind of her funny world view. It makes it entertaining.

Reality TV World:  Mike you had said you felt like "a traitor" for going on a reality TV show because of your background as a scripted television writer. Could you explain why you felt that and where that tension comes from?

Mike: Well I mean, in a way a lot of our hours of television now are reality television now and it just creates less opportunities for writers because so many jobs are being lost to reality shows. In a weird way you feel like it's weird to be a part of the thing that's like cannibalizing the opportunities for your own kind.

That said, I am a huge fan of reality television, and I think that The Amazing Race is a great show.

Reality TV World:  You are one of the more well-known contestants to appear on The Amazing Race in recent memory, did the other contestants recognize you at all or did you keep talk about your Hollywood background to a minimum?

Mel: Oh people talked to him, in fact it did us good. One person wanted to take a picture with him, and so after I took the picture I said "Now, can I use your iPhone?"

Mike: And the truth is that in Siberia and places like that it really wasn't  a factor. I mean, at the very beginning when we were leaving LAX there were people that would recognize me, but in general it didn't really factor in.

Reality TV World:  Mike you had said you were a fan of the show, but could you talk about how you ended up on The Amazing Race? Who applied originally and why? Just kind of how it all materialized.

Mike: A friend of mine just made an audition tape, just like everyone else. [Me and another partner] went to the semifinals for Season 13 and he kinda basically freaked out and was like "I can't do it," he got too nervous about going. So the idea of doing it with my dad came up and it worked out.

Reality TV World:  Could you both talk about that Roadblock challenge last week where Mel you had to feed the camels? Was there any reason to initially believe that the challenge was not going to be as physical as it turned out to be?

Mel: Well I didn't read the clue well enough at the beginning...

Mike: Well the truth is all they said was "Who want's to spend time with a maharajah's camels," and so we thought that maybe he was gonna ride a camel or lead a camel somewhere. it wasn't clear that it was gonna be a lot of schlepping of heavy stuff. It just looked like he was gonna work with animals, and at the time anything that had didn't seem like it had a lot of running or gymnastics or whatever, it felt like 'well, let's get him to do that."

It was an honest mistake, it definitely was not clear what we were gonna do... And you have to choose who's gonna do it before you know exactly what it is, and then once you've chosen you can't go back and can't change your mind.

Mel: And [in the challenge just picked the first camel group that I came to, which was the farthest away from the hay and the water. So it was really a stupid choice because I hadn't read it carefully. I [also] started taking the hay from Victor's pile and [someone] had to stop me and say "That's not your pile it's Vic's!"

Reality TV World:  And Mel to follow up on that, were those baskets located out of view so it was tough for some people to see them?

Mel: Right next to the hay! I mean, like 10-15 steps. You couldn't miss them it was just a whole pile of baskets and once you read the clue carefully that said "use the natural, historic ways to carry it" and there's only pitchforks and baskets, you think "God that was so stupid of me."

Reality TV World:  How much time do you think you saved using the baskets as opposed to the tins.

Mel: Well, it put me from last to the head of the troupe there, so thank goodness. Victor was gone already, but the others were there and gonna be ahead of me when I found it and I was able to get ahead of the rest of them.

Reality TV World:  There was also that paragliding challenge during the second leg where the bad weather threatened to knock out the challenge entirely and force you, Mel, to walk down the hill with your [groin] injury. It obviously didn't come to this point, but were you going to eventually try to make the walk down or were you gonna be up there and wait however long it took for the weather to clear up?

Mel: There was no question that I would have had to walk down after a while. We'd already given up, I thought I'd wrecked it for Mike and that we lost. So when the wind changed I had never really given careful consideration to the walking down.

http://www.realitytvworld.com/news/exclusive-mel-and-mike-white-talk-about-their-time-on-the-amazing-race-8698.php

TARAsia Fan:

--- Quote from: puddin on March 30, 2009, 08:52:00 PM ---Your crazy Ken  :lol:
--- End quote ---
Crazy about you, darling.  :hrt: :hrt:

georgiapeach:
Amazing Race's Mel and Mike: Led Astray by Cabbie, Locals and Sinister Deaf Kid
Mar 30, 2009 07:02 PM ET by Joyce Eng

Life's a beach? Not for Mel and Mike White. The father-son duo — Mel's a famed clergyman and author; Mike's written and acted in School of Rock and Freaks and Geeks — were led way off-course on Sunday's Amazing Race in search of a gorilla statue at the beach, when it was in fact at the zoo. That wasn't the only factor that led to their ouster. Find out what and who else played a part, why they think Margie really passed out at the Pit Stop and if we could be seeing Reese Witherspoon on the Race one day.

TVGuide.com: Was the cabbie sure the gorilla was at the beach?
Mel: We asked everyone at the Bangkok airport who lived in Phuket and they all said Patong Beach. The cab driver was convinced it was there. The other teams were asking where it was, but that's like following a herd, so we were thinking maybe we'd get lucky and do it our way.
Mike: I don't know what the local folklore is, but there were gorillas everywhere. For some reason, these people were convinced that gorilla was there, but it wasn't the right one. ... People would look at us and just sort of guess the zoo, like that was the obvious answer. We thought the zoo when we first saw the picture, but it was one of those things were it was so obvious somehow that it couldn't be right, so that's why we were like, "No, no, not the zoo! Where is it?"

TVGuide.com: I was thinking I would've Googled it at the airport. Did any of you do that?
Mike: Luke said he'd done research and his hands were doing a sign language that indicated where the location was. So the whole night, I was like, "Luke, tell me!" And he was like, "I don't know, I'll have to decide later." He was basically playing a mind game with me. They didn't know. I went around the airplane all night going, "Do you know sign language? What does this say?" He just sent me on a fool's errand. My biggest regret was trusting Luke.

TVGuide.com: Well, you said he's the sinister deaf kid.
Mike: I guess I didn't realize the sinister deaf kid was going to be sinister with me too. I was no exception to the rule.
Mel: We spent a lot of time with him, sitting there, writing notes back and forth. Mike really thought Luke liked him and Luke turned on him.

TVGuide.com: You've had some great comebacks. Did you think another one was in the cards here or did you figure you were last?
Mike: We thought we were last and we were five to 10 minutes behind Kisha and Jen. We also thought maybe Mike and Mark would be last [Laughs]. When it gets down to a couple teams, if you have an off day, it's definitely not good.
Mel: I was delighted when they said [Mark and Mike] got a 30-minute penalty for hiding those pumps. I thought real justice had been done.

TVGuide.com: Did you think 30 minutes was enough of a penalty?
Mike: It was definitely mean-spirited. I don't know how much it impacted the other teams. If we had done the rickshaw, maybe we would've been even more offended.
Mel: We were gonna do it and the driver was calling ahead to find out where it was and took us to the end of the rickshaw. So again we'd been taken astray by this guy.

TVGuide.com: That must've taken up time then. But you guys were always so calm. How did you stay that way? Even in the herb shop, you were laughing and joking.
Mike: Well, it's not gonna make us faster just to scream. We tried to motivate people by making them laugh and maybe they'll take pity on you.
Mel: After seeing the episode and seeing how people treated the shop owners, I was really glad we didn't do that. They were smiling and laughing when we left.

TVGuide.com: Well, you called Jaime mean.
Mike: I said she was kind of mean.
Mel: "Kind of mean"? She was mean straight-out! What are you talking about?
Mike: I think she has a capacity to be rude, which has been evident on the episodes. As an audience member, I think it's fun to have someone who's just so determined to win that she keeps us entertained.
Mel: Plus, she made some wonderful comments, like, "I hate these foreign languages! What are they talking about?!" [Laughs] She expected everyone to know English, I guess.

TVGuide.com: Were you close to them at all?
Mike: We were friendly with everyone. Toward the end, people got more stressed. ... Some people got really into wanting to be ahead of everybody at every stage, so it was aggravating.
Mel: Yeah, Luke was exasperating. He was unhappy most of the time. He was constantly yelling at his mother — yelling in his deaf way. It was amazing how he picked on her.
Mike: He was worse than Jaime, I think. He would see you in your cab getting ahead and suddenly he'd be snapping his fingers at the driver's mirror to go faster. It's one thing when you're in last place, but when you're ahead, it's like, you're not enjoying any of this. ... I think he put a lot of pressure on himself. Our theory about why Margie passed out is that he wouldn't let them buy food or water along the way. He wanted to hoard the money, which is smart, from a strategic point of view. But at some point, her body caved.

TVGuide.com: Mike, I know you said your ideal teammate would be your friend Reese Witherspoon. Should there be a Celebrity Amazing Race?
Mike: I think it would definitely be entertaining for people to watch, but I don't know how many celebrities would put up with how they treat you on the Race. [Laughs] You're not treated like a star, let's just say. Even for me, who's never even been a star, I felt like I was being treated like an extra with a criminal record.
Mel: I loved the line Michael gave at the beginning: "I don't fly coach." But then he learned that coach is pretty good, huh, Mike?
Mike: I didn't say I don't fly coach. I said I feel misunderstood when I fly coach. [Laughs]

TVGuide.com: You know who wins, but who are you cheering for?
Mike: When we got off, we were cheering for Kisha and Jen because they were cool and we liked them. Also, Tammy and Victor. We really bonded with them toward the end of our run. We liked that even though they were competitive, they seemed to have fun along the way and we could relate to the way they played

http://www.tvguide.com/News/Mel-Mike-Amazing-1004533.aspx

puddin:
The Amazing Race

Amazing Race’s Mike White Doesn’t Regret Underwear Jog in Siberia
March 31, 2009
School of Rock screenwriter Mike White, 38, had long admired The Amazing Race from the safety of his Pasadena, Calif., couch. When he decided to try out for the globe-trotting competition, he convinced his father Mel White, a 68-year-old gay-rights activist and pastor living in Lynchburg, Va., to go along for the ride. Even though they were eliminated just shy of the top five — essentially thanks to one bad decision — the fan favorites don’t regret a single moment of the competition. Not even the pulled groin or the unflattering white leotard. – Carrie Bell

A lot of fans were sad to see you guys go last night.
Mike: We were sad too. Of course we’ve had some more time to get used to the idea that we didn’t make it to the end. I feel like we could have gone farther. We just had a bad taxi driver and a really off day and you can’t afford to have an off day when it gets down to six teams.

Was there ever a moment where you thought the driver was wrong and you should have stayed with the group?
Mike: At that moment when we saw all of [the other teams], the driver was on the phone and said he suddenly felt like he knew where to go. Even though the [other racers] were all going the other direction, they didn’t seem to know where they were going. I would probably do the same thing again because you think, “Maybe we can get ahead if this guy is right and we can get ahead of all the chaos.”
Mel: We had also done a lot of work at the Bangkok airport talking to a lot of people who live in Phuket and they all looked at the gorilla and said it was at Patong Beach so we had this whole community of advice givers who were wrong and we were lead by the misinformation.

Mike, what made you want to be on reality TV?
Mike: I knew it would be a blast and stimulating and a challenge. … And going with my dad was a once in a lifetime opportunity as cliché as that sounds. … I didn’t expect the kind of positive feedback it could bring my dad. He speaks in places where they say the most hateful things about gay people and literally spit at him and now, to have the country see him as the humorous, compassionate and fun guy that he is, helps change the reactions he gets. That is one of the cooler fallout aspects of it. It can help change people’s minds about gay people.

Did you have a favorite place or moment?
Mel: I liked the paragliding and not just because it saved me from death. But I also liked getting to the mat because they always had some sort of cultural outbreak like the ballet troupe. I loved those moments.
Mike: I’ve got to say that I was really into the gymnastics at Nadia Comaneci’s facility. It was so ridiculous — that white leotard! And my favorite moment watching the show was watching Tammy try to do a somersault.

Being a public figure, were you ever worried about making a fool of yourself? You did jog in your underwear.
Mel: He looked good though, didn’t he?
Mike: Thanks, Dad. My philosophy in life is if you take yourself so seriously and try to protect your image, you will miss out on cool opportunities. Then the tail’s wagging the dog. As I sat down to watch it Sunday night, there was a pang of anxiety. Are we going to look like morons when we listen to that driver and go to the wrong place? That was more embarrassing than jogging half-naked in Siberia. But it is not something I will ever regret doing. And lots of good comedy takes place in underwear.

Your good friend Jack Black certainly knows that. Have he and any of your other famous pals been watching or teasing you?
Mike: When I first told him and other people that I was doing it, they were shocked and … I felt like they thought, “What are you doing going on reality TV?” But as the shows have aired and they have started watching to support me, they are becoming fans of the show. … No mater how fun or glamorous your lifestyle is, there is no denying that doing The Amazing Race is such a unique opportunity.

Has any part of the Race become inspiration for a movie script?
Mike: As stereotypical as some of the moments seem — like when there are a bunch of Siberians drinking vodka and singing songs at 8 a.m. — you realize that they try to be very real. There were people drinking at 8 a.m. all over Siberia who had nothing to do with the show. I need to get outside of L.A. and realize that there are so many different cultures and lives, and that part inspires me.

Mel, did you ever get that mai tai or massage you talked about?
Mel: I have not gotten any mai tai offers but I am getting marriage proposals from every rest home in the country. And I have to say, “Sorry. Already taken.”


http://tvwatch.people.com/2009/03/31/amazing-races-mike-white-doesnt-regret-underwear-jog-in-siberia/

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